


Dragons Cannot Break a Promise

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate route, Canon Divergence, Dragons, Friends to Enemies, Gen, Physical Abuse, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 03:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: "Odd-Eyes....you would never betray me, would you?"





	

_Dragons are not fickle. They cannot be. If a dragon makes a promise, it is kept—no exceptions. When a dragon gives their word, it cannot, and will not, be broken._

_He understood this—more than most. It gave him comfort, in a world of half-truths and forgotten promises and broken trusts. At the very least, the dragons would remain true to him._

_At the very least, he could trust the dragons._

_And at the very least, he wanted to make sure he was someone that the dragons could trust in return._

**_. . ._ **

He couldn't see—could barely breathe. The shadows that warped around him felt like living things, or at the very least, a very sentient form of thick smoke that snaked around his limbs, wet and slithery against his skin. Yuya tried to focus just on breathing. One in, one out. Like mom had taught him how to do.

“Yuya? Yuya, are you okay?”

A hand landed on his shoulder, light, uncertain. Yuya groaned. He managed to peel his eyes open, take in the darkness.

“W-where are we?” he mumbled, and then realized he wasn't sure who he was talking to. His eyes flew all the way open as his gaze caught the black wristband on the hand that was on his shoulder. “ _Yuto??_ ”

The other boy was remarkably substantial considering that he and Yuya hadn't been separated in...he didn't know how long. Yuto looked just as uncertain and confused as he did, but he extended a hand to help Yuya to his feet. Yuya took it gratefully, feeling surreal just from the fact that Yuto was _solid_. Even the strange, black background was less surprising.

“What happened?” Yuya asked.

“I'm...not sure,” Yuto said. “We...our cards started resonating, and I remember feeling so...so...”

He frowned, his brows wrinkling over gray eyes. Yuya understood—he had felt the same way. It hadn't...it hadn't been _anger_ , so much as it was...desperation? Was that the right description? His heart panged once, and he felt his chest clench up as though he had just heard something incredibly sad. He pressed one hand to his chest, just under his pendulum—and noted that Yuto's hand was moving up over his heart, too.

“Yuya!”

That was certainly a voice he hadn't been expecting to hear in this darkness, but sure enough, that was Edo Phoenix taking a knee in the shadows, cradling a white coated figure against him that appeared to be just barely conscious—Yuya recognized him instantly as his own Synchro counterpart. What had his name been? Yugo, that's right.

“Ed??” Yuya said. “What are you doing here?”

“I don't know,” he said, as Yuya jogged over to him, Yuto on his heels. Ed's eyes flickered up to Yuto, briefly registering surprise, but he didn't ask. “I think we must have been swept into the darkness when it came over us during the duel. Yugo passed out.”

“It looks like the other one is knocked out too,” said another surprisingly familiar voice, and Yuya looked up with surprise to see Kaito standing up, the purple haired form of Yuya's fusion counterpart on the ground. “No losses there, though.”

Ed frowned at Kaito but didn't say anything. Kaito's own eyes cut through the darkness, and then fell on Yuto, his eyes widening.

“Yuto?” he said. “That—that's really you, right? How...”

Yuto shook his head.

“I don't know either,” he said. “I...I don't even remember how the pair of us got here.”

Yuya shivered slightly as the shadows swooped around his arms, feeling ever so slimy. He...he didn't like it here. It felt dangerous...lonely...and his heart _hurt_ as though he were about to cry. Why was his throat all choked up?

“We need to figure out what happened,” Edo said. “And how to get out of here, before Academia is able to finish the Arc Area Project.”

“Well, do you have any bright ideas?” Kaito said harshly. “I don't see any glowing exit signs.”

_Siiiiiiighhhh..._

Every hair on Yuya's neck and arms stood on end, and his eyes widened as his throat clenched. He saw Yuto stiffen, too, and Yugo's eyes flew open, jolting himself up to a sitting position out of Ed's arms. Even Yuuri's head jerked up as he pushed himself onto his hands.

“What the...” Kaito said. “What's gotten in to all of you?”

Ed swore under his breath and muttered something that Yuya couldn't hear. Yuya felt dizzy. His head was spinning and his throat was dry.

“You didn't hear that?” he said.

“Hear what?” Edo said.

 _Siiigghhhh_....

There it was again! Yuya whipped around, trying to search the darkness for the source. What was that desperation clawing at his chest? Why was he feeling like he was going to panic if he didn't find the source of the sound?

The others were just as desperate as he was—he was shocked, briefly, by how clearly he knew this, how he could feel the hum of their nervousness and uncertainty in his own head as though they were connected, as though their brains were an open channel through which their heightened emotions flowed.

The darkness shifted, bulged. The shadows a little bit away from Yuya started to swirl upwards as a figure struggled to get to his feet. The newcomer gasped, desperate for air, his hands reaching up through the darkness, trying to fight past the webs of shadow that dragged him down.

Yuya's heart accelerated and a cold sweat began to bead on the back of his neck. The figure pushed upwards, gasping, finally punching through the darkness and stumbling free of the grasp of shadows. He heaved in heavy breaths as though he hadn't breathed in years, his face pale and drawn as he clutched at his stomach.

Behind him, Edo swore softly.

But Yuya couldn't take his eyes away from the young man's face. He couldn't look away from his tall, lean figure, the hanks of silver hair with green streaks flopping around his face and swooping up in spikes behind him, the blink of confused, disoriented yellow eyes.

Before he knew why, a tear started to roll down Yuya's cheek. He raised one hand to his face and wiped the tear away, staring at it for a moment.

Why....

Why was he crying?

Then the young man's eyes turned towards him, and their gazes locked.

And for the briefest, most beautiful moment, Yuya felt like he had come home.

**_. . ._ **

_He dreams of a boy with no face—or rather, a face smudged by time and the fading of memory._

_He knows that he loves this boy. He loves him with everything that he is. Loves the way he clambers around his scales and slides down his tail with a squeal of delight. Knows that he loves the way the boy rubs the end of his nose and scratches behind his horns. Knows that he loves his infectious laugh and bursting, exuberant excitement about everything._

“ _Will you fight with me today, Odd-Eyes?”_

_Yes. Today, and every day. That is his promise. He lets out a heavy sigh as he curls his body around the boy and pulls him close with his tail. The boy laughs with surprise, but falls back against his side anyway._

“ _We'll be friends forever, won't we, Odd-Eyes?”_

_He will protect this boy. He will protect him with everything that he is and has._

_Forever._

**. . .**

Yuya felt like he was choking. It was all he could do to press his hands to his mouth to still the sobs that want to roll out of him.

_It's him. It's him. It's him._

Part of him still didn't know what that meant, but the rest of him was trembling, unable to drop that yellow-eyed gaze. The young man looked confused for a moment, his lips parting slightly, but without any words coming out. Yuya felt like he was going to double over with his sobs. He thought he wasn't going to ever see him again. He thought that he was gone. Preserved only by the shards he had managed to salvage, managed to hide away in his own soul to protect him. But he was here. He was here, in front of him, alive and real and solid and oh _gods—_

The young man's brow crinkled, and then he whispered one word—just one.

“Odd...Eyes?”

Yuya gasped. Pieces of memory assaulted him—all of a sudden, his body felt strange, unnatural. He wasn't supposed to look like this, to feel like this. This was wrong—he wasn't supposed to have _his_ face. Would....would he be angry with him? For stealing his face and his eyes and his voice and his body? Would he be angry because Yuya hadn't been able to protect him, hadn't been able to stop them from separating and shattering? He had only managed to save a few pieces of him...had only managed to preserve a handful of shards of him, his....his master.

“Zarc,” Yuya whispered, as the name came to him. “Oh gods. You're alive.”

And then Yuya couldn't help himself anymore—he bolted forward. A large part of him still didn't understand what was happening. What were all these memories that were and weren't his? Why was he responding to being called “Odd-Eyes?” Who was this Zarc and why did he keep feeling like he was to blame for losing him?

But the rest of him didn't hesitate as he ran, closed the gap between him and Zarc, and flung himself at the young man's chest.

Zarc was laughing, babbling _“I can't believe it's you, it's really you, I missed you so much, oh my gosh, look at you, you're—you're like me, now!”_ He caught Yuya as Yuya jumped towards him, scooping him up in a huge bear hug and swinging him around.

“Zarc, Zarc, Zarc,” Yuya mumbled over and over again.

“Odd-Eyes, it's you, it's really you!” Zarc said, laughing. “I can't believe it! I can't believe this!! Oh my gosh, look at you!! You've...you've changed a lot!”

He set Yuya—Odd-Eyes?—down, and Yuya couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks—he was almost going to double over with sobbing.

“I thought you were dead,” Odd-Eyes said. “I thought—I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you forever.”

“You can't get rid of me that easily,” Zarc laughed—and oh, gods, but his laugh was the most beautiful thing that Yuya could ever remember seeing, bright and shining, sending ripples through his entire body like he was some glorious, glowing thing. He ruffled Odd-Eyes' hair and Yuya leaned into the touch—or was he Odd-Eyes? Gosh, he couldn't remember anymore, his old name and his new name kept getting mixed up in his head.

Zarc's gaze flickered over the top of Yuya's head, and an even bigger smile grew over his face.

“Clear Wing? Dark Rebellion? Starve Venom?” he said. “You're all here!!”

The other three all looked like they were in varying stages of shock when Yuya turned around to look at them. Yugo—no, no, Clear Wing, Odd-Eyes remembered that now!—was shaking, fat tears rolling down his face, although he looked confused about why he was crying and he kept rubbing at his snotty nose. Yuto's—Dark Rebellion's—mouth hung partially open as he stared at Zarc, as though he were contemplating some beautiful painting that he didn't know the meaning of. And Yuuri/Starve Venom looked as though he had been punched in the gut, a slight tremble running through him, his hands shaking at his sides.

 _They're my comrades_ , Odd-Eyes/Yuya realized. _We were...we were dragons together._

His eyes went back up to Zarc.

 _His dragons_ , he thought with wonder. _We were_ his _dragons. Oh gods...I remember everything. I remember him...I remember...losing...him..._

Fresh tears spilled out of Yuya's eyes, and his knees trembled, almost staggering. Zarc caught him with one arm, holding him tightly. He flashed a big grin down at Odd-Eyes.

“You guys look like my little brothers now,” he said, laughing. “What happened? Did you get tired of having scales?”

“We...we...” Odd-Eyes started, but he couldn't get it out.

“We were defeated,” Starve Venom said softly, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

“You shattered,” Dark Rebellion said, leaning forward, his brow furrowed as though he were figuring it out just as he were saying it.

“We—we lost y—ou,” Clear Wing sobbed, pulling his arms over his eyes.

Zarc's smile faltered a bit. Did he not remember? Did he not remember the girl, with her powers of nature blasting outwards at them, shredding them to pieces, forcing them apart after they had finally become one? Did he not remember his soul, not meant to be attached to a single Duel Monster's, let alone four, being pulled apart at the seams because he couldn't be equally detached from the four dragons he had given his soul to? Did he not remember getting ripped apart, his dragons flung in all directions, mourning and cursing his loss as they scrambled to gather the pieces of his fractured soul and envelop those pieces in their own souls?

“We tried to save what we could of you,” Odd-Eyes mumbled, the memories coming back to him like a waterfall. “I couldn't...I didn't have enough of you left to put you back together so I...so I reconstructed myself to look like you, and I hid what was left of you in my soul...”

He shook his head.

“I didn't know until now that my brothers did the same...”

Zarc looked so shocked, looking back and forth between Odd-Eyes and the other three dragons who looked like boys.

“I...we lost...?” he said. “We failed?”

Odd-Eyes whined, curling against Zarc's chest.

“But you're alive,” he said, crying again. “You're alive, I can't believe you're alive.”

Clear Wing didn't seem to be able to hold himself in anymore. He burst across the space and threw himself at Zarc too, hugging him so tightly that they almost both fell over, sobbing against his shoulder. Dark Rebellion approached more slowly, cautiously, as though he couldn't believe that this was happening. And Starve Venom still didn't seem to fully appreciate what was happening, his mouth still just partly open as he stood stock still.

Ed and Kaito were staring, their eyes wide and faces cautious—and Yuya suddenly jerked back to himself, remembering that they were there.

He shook his head, pressing a hand to his forehead. Right...right, he was Odd-Eyes...but he was also Yuya, now...he would have to try and explain this to Edo and Kaito.

“Yuya, what's happening?” Edo said, stepping forward, looking tense.

“It's okay!” Yuya/Odd-Eyes said. “This is Zarc. He's—well—wow, this is a lot to explain...”

“Odd-Eyes, who are they?” Zarc said—his voice suddenly cold and suspicious.

“Zarc, it's fine,” Yuya/Odd-Eyes said. “I promise, they're friends. They won't hurt us.”

“Friends?” Zarc said slowly.

There was something....distant in his voice. Something cold. Yuya/Odd-Eyes blinked, drawing back just a bit from Zarc's embrace. Zarc's arms had become somewhat limp, his eyes distant and...cold. Yuya/Odd-Eyes' heart jumped a beat.

“Zarc, are you okay?” he said.

Zarc's eyes slowly rolled back down to Yuya/Odd-Eyes. He half smiled, faintly, raising one hand to stroke Yuya/Odd-Eyes' head.

“Odd-Eyes,” he said, and Odd-Eyes shivered to hear his real name again, coming from the boy that he had cared for so much. “You would never betray me, would you?”

. . .

_He's so tired. He's so TIRED. Why won't he rest??_

Please sleep.

_Zarc doesn't listen, leaning both hands against Odd-Eyes' scales. Odd-Eyes curls in closer, wrapping his tail around Zarc protectively._

Please...please sleep.

_Zarc shakes his head._

“ _Can't,” he mumbles. “I have to get ready for my next match.”_

_He grins, that lop-sided smile of his that makes him look very asymmetrical. Odd-Eyes understands that this is supposed to be goofy. Or something. But either way, the smile looks so tired, like he's trying so hard but his lips are dragged down by weights._

_Odd-Eyes twists his head around to touch his nose to Zarc's shoulder. Zarc lifts his hand wearily to put it on Odd-Eyes' nose, scratching in just the right spot as always._

“ _They want a show,” he mumbles. “Will you fight with me today, old friend?”_

I will always fight alongside you _, Odd-Eyes said._

_But an anger claws at his stomach, makes his tail flick with rage. Who are these people that they can demand so much from him? That they demand his precious boy fight and attack and hurt people for their entertainment? Zarc is tired. He is so tired. He needs to sleep. Why won't they let him sleep? Why do they make him push himself so hard?_

I hate them.

_Zarc blinks, looking up at Odd-Eyes._

“ _You hate who?”_

The humans. I hate them. They took your happiness away.

“ _I...I'm not sad. I like dueling.”_

You don't like dueling like this.

“ _I want to make the people happy...I want them to like what I'm doing.”_

_Odd-Eyes growls deep at the back of his throat and curls his face away from Zarc's hand, lifting it up into the sky._

I hate them, _he says again._ I want to kill them. Because they're taking you away from me.

_He can feel the thrum of Zarc's heart as though it were his own—they are one soul, he and Zarc. They beat in time—they always have. They have always been of one mind and one heart, and he knows that Zarc is just as angry as he is._

_Zarc's fingers curl up against Odd-Eyes' scales._

“ _I might hate them a little bit too,” he whispers._

. . .

Odd-Eyes stiffened up at the question.

“What? Of course not! I've always fought with you...haven't I?”

What brought this on? Why was Zarc looking at him like that—so cold and alien, nothing at all like the excitable boy he had once known. His heart thrummed against his chest so loud he could hear it ringing in his ears.

Even the others seemed taken aback by this question, Clear Wing stepping back out of his hug and tilting his head, sniffling back tears.

“What are you saying, Zarc?” Starve Venom said quietly, his eyes low and level. “Odd-Eyes has been with you the longest...what makes you think he could ever betray you?”

“Don't you...still trust us?” Dark Rebellion whispered, looking pained.

“We—we missed you so much,” Clear Wing said, sniffling. “Why would you ask something like that?”

Odd-Eyes felt like he was going to fall over. Zarc...didn't trust him? It was like his world is crumbling.

Zarc smiled again, but there was something cold about it. Something that wasn't....Zarc. He stroked Odd-Eyes' hair, then slipped his hand under Odd-Eyes' chin and tilted it up towards him.

“Of course you wouldn't,” he whispered. “That's a stupid question. We're soulmates, right?”

“Of course,” Odd-Eyes said, desperate for Zarc to smile at him for real again. “Of course. I promised you, didn't I? We'd fight together forever.”

Zarc's smile deepened, but it still wasn't the right smile. Odd-Eyes felt cold all of a sudden, and Zarc's fingers felt cold and alien against his skin.

“Fate brought us all back together, against all the odds,” Zarc said. “My dearest friends...my dragons...you all came back to me.”

The air felt tight and thick, and Odd-Eyes almost couldn't breathe. Zarc looked up at the far away darkness overhead, still smiling. His grip on Odd-Eyes' chin tightened and Odd-Eyes almost yelped.

“It was fate,” he said again. “So...”

He looked back down at all four of them, smiling.

“It means we were right,” he said. “And it means we can finish what we started.”

Yuya's chest dropped out and he was Yuya again, just Yuya, his head spinning.

_Finish what we started._

_Finish_

_what_

_we_

_started._

For a moment, no one spoke. Dark Rebellion/Yuto was the first to say something.

“Zarc...please,” he whispered. “Let's...let's think about this.”

“Think about what?” Zarc said, his smile slowly fading.

“I...I don't....” Clear Wing/Yugo said. “I...I don't think I want to....”

“Speak up,” said Zarc, his eyes narrowing.

Yugo swallowed thickly.

“Zarc, I—I'm so happy to see you again, I really am, but I...” He couldn't say it. The words were stuck in his throat. Zarc's eyes wheeled back to Odd-Eyes.

“Odd-Eyes, you'll follow me, won't you? You always said you would. The others will come around if it's you.”

Was that...desperation in the back of Zarc's voice?

“Yuya,” Kaito said harshly from behind him. “Explain! What is happening?”

Zarc's eyes flashed at Kaito, and even Kaito was taken aback enough at the venom there that he stepped back. Zarc's gaze returned to Yuya. He put both hands on Yuya's shoulders, gripping him tightly and staring down at him.

“You'll come with me, won't you?” he whispered. “We'll become one again—the way that we were, but for real, this time. We'll end this. We'll finally finish it.”

For a moment, Yuya thought about it. He remembered it—the overwhelming, beautiful power that had flowed through him when he became perfectly one mind with Zarc and his dragon comrades. The power...the connection...the _bliss._ It had been...it had been a release. It has been beautiful. He wanted...he wanted it back. He wanted that power back.

He wanted Zarc back.

_Yuya....Yuya..._

It was only a memory. Only the tiniest, fluttering heartbeat at the back of his mind. His name: just his name.

His name, called up the stairs by his mother, telling him to come down for breakfast. Called out across the schoolyard by a tall boy in metal sandals, asking him to wait up. Shouted in unison by a trio of kids who bounced to the school door when he arrived. Spoken around a lollipop shoved in the mouth of a boy with powder blue hair and a lazy smile. Murmured in greeting by a young man as he fixed his glasses on his nose. Cried out over and over by a crowd of cheering spectators as he zoomed through the ending explosion of fireworks to his victory.

Laughed out between the lips of a girl that spun around to see him running to catch up with her, her blue eyes sparkling like the bracelet around her wrist as it caught the sun when she raised her hand in greeting.

Slowly...slowly...Yuya stepped out of Zarc's grip.

“I...I can't,” he whispered. “I can't do it anymore, Zarc....there are things in this world....there are people in this world...that I want to protect. It's so much more beautiful than I ever imagined.”

He looked up pleadingly into the face of Zarc, of the boy that he had loved so much so long ago, the boy that he longed to be at the side of once again.

“I want to share that with you. Can we...can we do that?”

Zarc's face was completely unreadable. It was as though it were made of stone. Yuya bit his lip. What was going on behind Zarc's eyes? Why couldn't he just know? What had happened to the connection they had once had, mind-to-mind?

“We promised,” he whispered.

Yuya blinked. He leaned forward, one hand reaching towards Zarc.

Then Zarc's eyes flashed. Too fast for Yuya to react, he grabbed Yuya's wrist. Before Yuya knew what was happening, he was on the ground, slammed so hard that the air rushed out of his lungs and sparks flared in front of his eyes. He couldn't move—he was too stunned. Then Zarc's boot connected with his side and tried to scream but there was no air in him. He tried to curl up, throw his hands over his head as Zarc's foot slammed down on him over and over again, kicked him so hard that he saw stars. He heard people shouting, screaming—Yugo was screaming and pummeling his fists against Zarc's side, Yuto grabbed Zarc's shoulders and tried to heave him back but Zarc flung both of them off and sent them careening to the floor. Edo shouted, and Yuya heard him running towards them as Kaito swore up a storm on his heels.

“You told me it was a promise!” Zarc screamed, each word punctuated with another rattling kick. “Dragons never break their promises—you told me that! You told me you would never betray me!”

Yuya tried to scream, he tried to talk—he wasn't, he wasn't betraying him, he just wanted to—he wanted to do something else, he wanted to show Zarc that this world wasn't as bad as they had thought it was, he wanted to tell him how beautiful it really was, he wanted to share that with him—

But he couldn't speak, could barely even breathe as Zarc kicked and pummeled him harder and harder until Yuya thought he was going to pass out, he couldn't breathe and his vision was starting to turn into tunnels.

He heard a low, feral hiss, and he saw a flutter of purple as Yuuri launched himself over Yuya, barreling into Zarc and sending him off balance. The barrage of attacks finally stopped for a moment, and Yuya gasped for breath.

“Yuya! Oh my god, Yuya, what the hell—”

Ed had reached him, pulling him up into his arms to check on his injuries. Yuya cried out with pain, every inch of him probably covered in bruises—it was a wonder that he hadn't been kicked in the head and knocked out instantly.

He was crying again, he realized. He couldn't stop. His fingers curled instinctively into Ed's shirt as Edo pressed him against him, murmuring soothing words. Yuya could hear the commotion, but he wasn't sure he could look. It sounded like the others were fighting with Zarc—he sobbed harder thinking about his comrades, his fellow dragons who had fought with him, with Zarc—forced to turn on him, on their dearest friend.

“Zarc,” he gasped. “Zarc...Zarc.... _Zarc..._ ”

He heard Kaito activating his Duel Disk. The shadows would recede, soon, Yuya could feel it with his reawakened dragon powers. They would all be returned to the physical world, and Zarc would be back again—he couldn't achieve his powers, not without his dragons to become one again, but he would try—oh, he would try. Would he recognize Yuzu, and the others, as Ray, the girl that had stopped them? Would he hurt them?

Would Yuya have to fight against _Zarc_?

Yuya sobbed and Edo held him a little tighter, whispering _“it's okay, it's okay,”_ over and over again.

It wasn't okay. It couldn't ever be okay again.

Yuya had broken his promise.

 _Odd-Eyes_ had broken his promise.

“Zarc,” he whispered again—a plea. A prayer. “Zarc....please... _come back._ ”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I feel like I could do SO MUCH MORE with this idea buuuuuuuut
> 
> I'm gonna leave it right there at this point. The canon will very quickly disprove this theory of mine that the boys are the dragons, holding the fragments of Zarc, so I wanted to get this out on paper before that happens. What do you guys think about this theory? (Or about the story?) (hashtag totally not baiting for comments)
> 
> Thank you for reading! -bows-

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